Wednesday, October 17, 2007

I Actually Caught a Break at The Mookie??

With all the crying I have been doing, I am posting this hand to show that the poker gods sometimes do give me a break.

This was a different hand from the start. Everyone folded when it came to me on the button. I called. RecessRampage raised from the small blind (raise with 8-4 clubs?) to 120, the big blind folded, and I called. Flop was K-8-6. Recess bet 270 and I raised to 540. Recess called (?). Turn was an 8. He checked, and I bet 1350. Recess went all in and I was left with a decision: Call off my last 668 or fold. Guessing that he didn't catch a flush and hoping that he had K-J/10 ... and just being pissed off at the world with all the bad beats I've taken lately, I called ... and sucked out.

But ... and this is how I would scope out my opponent's play ... 1) Raise with 8-4clubs? 2) Call the raise to 540? The raises were about 20% of Alan's chips in a freezeout tournament with middle pair, low kicker, no flush draw. I can see the strategy in a cash game with implied odds, but not what I would employ in this situation. Of course, it almost worked, but did he forget that Full Tilt always screws you in the end?

Of course, this luck of mine was not to continue ...

I hit the straight on the turn and made a pot-sized bet. NewinNov was really slow playing the set. I had no idea that he was that strong. He called my pot-sized bet and hit his boat on the river. I was crippled, doubled up, doubled again, then took my 9-9 against A-Q and lost that battle, was crippled again, then out.

Nothing like the Mookie. I actually won the second Mookie I played. I thought, "Geez -- these aren't too hard to win." Haven't won one since.